In the early 1980s, Tibetan Buddhism had a renaissance after more than twenty years of destroy. Phurba Tashi Rinpoche was only twelve year old then and just graduated from primary school. Upon an auspicious event, he was ordained in the Kure Temple (the first temple built by Mahasiddha Lungsal Nyingpo in Front Tibet) in his hometown - Litang County in East Tibet.

From the first day he was ordained, Rinpoche followed the schedule for Buddhist monks in the monastery, studying Buddhist philosophy and following the commandments strictly.

The monastic life in Tibet seemed to be simple, hard and quiet. However, in the third year of his life as a Tibetan monk, Rinpoche experienced the first real ordeal to his determination. Young as a boy of fourteen, he was also required to do construction work in the temple. One day, the Major-domo assigned him to carry wood logs down from the hilltop with other monks. Those adult monks were stronger and ran faster. Hence they had already picked out the thinner and lighter ones. When Rinpoche arrived at the hilltop breathlessly, only the thickest logs were left. They were even taller and thicker than his teenager body. With tremendous efforts, Rinpoche lifted one log onto his shoulder and tried very hard to move his steps. But he only found himself falling over after a couple of steps. He climbed up, tried again and fell over once again after he staggered another couple of steps ahead. As it was getting darker and darker, he started to be gripped by anxiety and fear. Again the young Rinpoche raised his exhausted body and lifted that huge log onto his shoulder. For a fourteen-year-old boy, the log was too heavy. Soon the log overwhelmed him. As he collapsed and the log fell right upon him, great pain penetrated into his bones. Young Rinpoche struggled to move his body out but the log just remained absolutely still on his back. While he was almost desperate, an idea flashed in his mind “Practice is too hard!”

“Practice is too hard!” — That was the only complaint that Rinpoche has ever made about his monastical life. After that he has never raised such improper thought. He still feels guilty for that every time he mentions this to disciples.

[Post Script]

Rinpoche says “The closest analogy of liberation (from the Three Realms) is freedom. Pursuit of freedom is actually the initial motive of all our daily actions. For instance, we always dream that we can live in an ideal space-time, like the heaven, where we can do anything we like. But in reality, obtaining freedom is not as easy as falling off a log on the hill slope. We must have the correct methods and make huge efforts as well. The happiness of liberation is as boundless as the empty space. But we still need to accumulate merits and wisdom for the purpose of ultimate liberation in our daily lives. For example, we can only describe the concept of space with our words and analysis. But as a bird souring higher and higher searching for the end of the world will eventually reach its own physical limit and come back down to the ground, words and analysis cannot substitute action on the way to the ultimate liberation.”